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.I have made several new friends amongst the Americans, of all people.The Creoles snubbed me, thanks to Jonas, so I went out and forged my own friendships.These Americans are remarkable people, not at all the barbarians they were painted in England.The women have welcomed me into their inner circle and I am so grateful to have friends here.Since that awful day in England, my life has been one unhappy event after another, one struggle after another, and now things are starting to look up.Once Jonas was unable to speak, my melancholy disappeared.I believe he was responsible for it and once he was unable to influence me, the feeling departed.Thank you, Silas, for giving me everything I could ever want.1785, February 9Several of the servants have fled.I cannot blame them.We are being stalked within the house.It is the only way I can describe it.The odor permeates every orifice in the house and we cannot escape the strange occurrences.Footsteps run up and down the stairs.Candles go out at the oddest of times.The kitchens have been plagued by one horror after another.Three of the staff have died due to accidents.Nettie is even thinking of leaving me.She says our house has been infested.I tell her that is nonsense, but deep down I think she may be right.Jonas was dealing with demons, but so was I.We invited evil into our home.We opened it up for a possession.What are we to do to combat it?1785, May 23It has been so long since I had the strength of will to put thought to paper.My son was born just moments ago.I have named him Jonathan Nathanial Sinclair, although I am sure his new family will change it.I held him for but a few seconds and then sent him and Nettie away from this cursed house.She promised to see him taken care of.I hired an attorney to make all the arrangements and ensured Nettie could stay with my son.She is terrified of him, but she will keep him safe.She swore it to me.Wherever you go, my beautiful boy, you will be safe.We discovered the presence stalking us was Jonas.His spirit walks these halls and I know without any hesitation he would have murdered my child.He has made several attempts to cause his death before Jonathan was ever born.There were several close calls.I am dying.The birthing was hard on me and I am bleeding too much.The doctor says there is nothing he can do.I am using the last of my strength to warn anyone who enters this cursed ground to flee, run fast from here.Jonas will never leave this place and inflict pain upon its residents for an eternity.He has truly cost me everything.Do not let him do the same to you.Chapter Twenty-TwoI close the journal softly and look up.The guys are still whispering in the far corner of the library, unaware of the journal I’ve discovered.I will bet anything that my soul sucking ghost is Jonas.It makes sense if he made a deal with a demon.I shake my head.Deals with demons? It sounds ridiculous.Can demons do that? Appear human and make a deal to damn your soul in return for something you want more than anything?In Elizabeth’s situation, I can almost agree with her.If I were helpless and in her shoes, I might have done the same thing.Women who lived in the 1700s were considered chattel, the property of their husbands.They had no rights to speak of and in some cases were badly abused by their husbands.Poor Elizabeth.I can almost feel her pain just in the words she wrote.Her handwriting told her story.She went from angry, to sad and confused, then to desperate.It’s a feeling I’m all too familiar with.Reading her story makes me think of all the things I have felt since I woke up in this house.Both Elizabeth and her husband were dealing with demons.Is that why she experienced what she did in the house? I think I remember Doc saying something about demonic infestation in one of his lectures I’d attended.There were three stages I think, but what?“Doc?” I ask, my voice loud in the hushed whispers going on around me.Instantly all eyes are on me, worried and concerned.“Yes, Mattie?” Doc looks the most worried about me except for maybe Dan.Doc understands this gift so much better than I do, so maybe he knows there’s a reason to be worried.At this point, I don’t care.I just want the ghost responsible for killing Eric to pay a thousand times over.“Didn’t you say there were stages when it came to demons and human activity?”“Yes.” He nods slowly.“Infestation, oppression, and possession.Why?”“Does the third stage have to be possession or could it just be a demon lurking about looking to make a deal?”“How do you know about deals, Mattie?” Mr.Malone asks.“That isn’t common knowledge.Only humans who’ve made deals and my kind know about it.”I handed him the journal and gave him a quick outline of what was in it.“I think they both made deals, but if the demon moved on, then why does the house still mimic the stages of activity?”“Hold up.” Eli frowns at me.“Out of every book in this frickin' library, you pick up the one that talks about deals?”Dan laughs.“She’s really good at this stuff.I keep telling her she’ll make a great cop when she graduates.”“In your dreams, Officer Dan.” I scowl at him.“You’ve seen my rap sheet.Police stations and I don’t mix very well.”“You’ve got a rap sheet?” Eli grins.“Well, now, I think you just got a whole lot more interesting, Hilda.”“What did I tell you about calling me Hilda?” I ask through clenched teeth.I can deal with anger so much better than grief.“Mattie,” Doc interrupts Eli before he can stick his foot further in his mouth.“The journal you found belongs to the wife of the original owner of the house.He had it built about a year before he married her.Everything going on with this house started with them.”“Yeah, Doc, I think we figured that out already,” Eli says with just a hint of sarcasm.The annoyed look Dan and Caleb give their brother has my eyes widening.It’s identical, and in that moment, it’s so easy to see they are brothers.I’m not the only one to see it, either.Eli blinks several times and then shakes his head as if to clear it, but the similarities between Dan and Caleb are too strong to ignore.“I would say that Jonas made a deal for eternal life, but his wife’s deal trumped it,” Mr.Malone says thoughtfully.“The demon he made the deal with couldn’t un-ring the bell, so maybe he gave Jonas eternal life through the ghosts trapped here? As long as he’s able to siphon energy off them, he can maintain his base of power.”“Old Jonas is having issues with that,” I tell them.“He’s losing his hold on some of the ghosts in residence.He told me that they’re growing just as strong as him.”“And that’s why he wants you,” Mr.Malone’s shrewd gaze centers on me.“Doc says you are made up of ghost energy, a beacon of shining light to lost souls.If he has you, he can pull more ghosts in and feed off you for an eternity, he’d cement his power.”“That’s exactly what he said,” I agree, “and that’s exactly why we have to stop him.”“Mattie, it wouldn’t just be him we’d have to contend with.” Mr.Malone sighs.“There seem to be a lot of the bad ones here.You’ve met some of them.”“Yeah, there are a lot of bad ones.” I nod.“But there are so many that are just lost [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]